Tonight’s Free eQuilter Pattern features our exclusive Stained Glass Tree of Life panel, along with new companion pieces, which we just released! This is one of those wildly popular collections that is so beautiful…it just makes you smile.
To make this 57″ x 68″ quilt design, start with the central panel in a kaleidoscope of glowing hues. Cut up our Illuminated Mandalas Block Panel to make the top and bottom sections, and the Illuminated Mandalas Stripe to make the sides. Use Solid Black for the background, and finish with a rainbow ombre binding.
PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping when you order the fabrics for this exquisite quilt pattern (orders $100 and over, no coupon needed).
Order the pattern as configured, or customize it to your liking with any of our thousands of fabrics. Just place your desired fabrics in your Wish List, and these fabrics will appear in the Fabric Selector below the pattern.
Today I am sharing another one of my favorite art quilts from the Houston Intl Quilt Festival. For many years…decades!… we have marveled at the skill of Japanese quilters, but lately there is a wave of talent coming from Asia that is fascinating and beautiful. We now have artists also from Korea, Taiwan and Mainland China, who are competing and winning awards in the US and around the world.
This year there were 2 special exhibits from Taiwan, plus many individual artworks by Taiwanese artists that were hanging in the judged show. And last year the Best of Show was won by Chen Jing from Beijing China, with her petite (17″ x 18″) but absolutely delicious silk and thread painted “Still Life”.
This year Chen Jing won the First Place in the Pictorial category for this 62″ x 62″ floral and figurative art quilt – “Peony Dream”.
Her techniques are listed as: Hand embellishment, embroidery, Chinese frog closure techniques, ribbon embroidery, machine piecing, applique, quilting and digital printing.
Artist Statement: “This quilt draws inspiration from “The Peony Pavilion”, a classical Chinese opera about love transcending mortal bounds. It depicts a young maiden, enchanted by a spring garden’s blooms, drifting into a dream where she meets an elegant young scholar. The work interweaves a realistic human figure with illustrations and calligraphic elements from ancient Chinese books, alongside symbol-laden patterns, using silk and sheer fabric.”
I wish you all could see this piece in person, but you can go to my photo pages and study the detail shots. The delicate colors and shimmering silk created a mesmerizing effect. I am sure we will see more beautiful quilts from Chen Jing in the future, along with this latest wave of talent from Asia.
I am finishing up a Chinese-themed quilt for my gallery in Taipei in a month, and taking weekly Mandarin refresher courses. Also trying to keep up with the daily Inktober sketches. Are any of you also doing this ink sketch challenge?
Many thanks to all of you who came to our Soul Stories gallery talks in Houston. We have quite an amazing group of artists making important work…each with a message. You will be hearing more about our traveling exhibit going into 2026.
Sharing our passion for fabric… Luana & Paul
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Travel/Lecture Dates: Nov 2-6 – Art Quilt Tahoe – Independent Study Nov 7-10 – Sacred Threads – Indianapolis – Art & Activism lecture on Sunday Nov 21-23 – Taiwan Quilt Festival – Taipei – Feature Artist & Speaker Dec 10 – Canadian Quilt Association – Zoom Lecture – Intl Quilt Trends Feb 2 – SAQA Europe/Middle East – Zoom Lecture Feb 18-21 – QuiltCon – Raleigh NC
Today we bring you our beloved Garden Gnome collection and exclusive Free Quilt Pattern. These mystical gnomes holding flowers and mushrooms have been a runaway best-seller at eQuilter, and we have them back in stock now, so take advantage of this opportunity to snag a quilt project that is sure to delight someone special!
To make this 59″ x 70″ quilt design, you will start with the central 33″ x 44″ whimsical panel, then piece together the allover coordinate, Gnome Border Stripe, and green solid, plus the Mushroom Forest binding, to create your captivating quilt and conversation starter!
PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping when you order the fabrics for this exquisite quilt pattern (orders $100 and over, no coupon needed).
Order the pattern as configured, or customize it to your liking with any of our thousands of fabrics. Just place your desired fabrics in your Wish List, and these fabrics will appear in the Fabric Selector below the pattern.
Many of you creative textile artists are starting to use natural canvas/duck for your projects – as a base for painting and collage – or as a stablizing backing. We have stocked up for a future Betty Busby class, but also because so many artists have asked me about this in the last year. This new product has a smooth hand and a sturdy 10 oz. weave, a midweight fabric at 63″ wide.
Last night Sophie Quinn sang in a choir concert at her university. Oh how inspiring to hear those youthful voices in such haunting lyrics and tender harmonies. My favorite song was Carly Simon’s “Let the River Run”. Remember that one? It was so uplifting…the soaring chords and words of hope. Goosebumps.
“Let the river run, Let all the dreamers Wake the nation….”
I am writing this late Friday night because tomorrow on Saturday, I’ll be busy….
Travel/Lecture Dates: Nov 2-6 – Art Quilt Tahoe – Independent Study Nov 7-10 – Sacred Threads – Indianapolis – Art & Activism lecture Nov 21-23 – Taiwan Quilt Festival – Taipei – Feature Artist & Speaker Dec 10 – Canadian Quilt Association – Zoom Lecture – Intl Quilt Trends Feb 2 – SAQA Europe/Middle East – Zoom Lecture Feb 18-21 – QuiltCon – Raleigh NC
Our festive Hallows Eve fabric features Ravens perched among the jack o’ lanterns in a haunted scene, in tonight’s Free eQuilter pattern. Our coordinating Halloween Kitties are the perfect match for this spooky celebration.
Start with the 26″ x 44″ Hallows Eve Raven panel, piece the borders with matching Halloween Kitties & Orange hand dye, set against a solid black border. Make this as a wall hanging or Halloween door-panel for all your kitty and Halloween friends to enjoy !
PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping when you order the fabrics for this exquisite quilt pattern (orders $100 and over, no coupon needed).
Order the pattern as configured, or customize it to your liking with any of our thousands of fabrics. Just place your desired fabrics in your Wish List, and these fabrics will appear in the Fabric Selector below the pattern.
My head is swirling with all the colors and inspiration seen at the International Quilt Festival in Houston this last weekend. I have just come home, and I am organizing my photos, making notes about my meetings, and starting to edit quilt images to share with you soon.
How can I decide what to share with you first? It is an impossible task, so I will start by sharing a detail of this stunning medallion applique quilt with an uplifting story.
“East Meets West” by Molly Hamilton-McNally Quilted by Yange Gong Coto de Caza, California
Hand applique, machine piecing & quilting.
“This quilt has an interesting and unusual background. It’s a unique collaboration and combination of the skills of two women, a Chinese student and her Chinese-American teacher. It shows the meeting of the East and West by incorporating the two traditional methods of paper piecing, the Western technique at the center of the quilt, and the hand applique for the Eastern surrounding designs. The entire quilt is made of silk. Art unites the world.”
This shimmering gorgeous work of art won the Bernina Award for the category “Balanced Piecing and Applique”. I stood in front of this piece, in awe, for a long time.
Sharing our passion for fabric…and cats! Luana & Paul
Travel/Lecture Dates: Nov 2-6 – Art Quilt Tahoe – Independent Study Nov 7-10 – Sacred Threads – Indianapolis – Art & Activism lecture Nov 21-23 – Taiwan Quilt Festival – Taipei – Feature Artist & Speaker Dec 10 – Canadian Quilt Association – Zoom Lecture – Intl Quilt Trends Feb 2 – SAQA Europe/Middle East – Zoom Lecture Feb 18-21 – QuiltCon – Raleigh NC
Tonight’s Free eQuilter pattern features Saint Nicholas and polar bear friends gazing at the dance of northern lights on the horizon.
To make this 55″ x 63″ quilt pattern, you’ll begin with our best-selling ‘Aurora Santa’ panel. Then add 5 watery shades of blue-aqua Hoffman Hand-Dyes to piece the borders.
Your family and friends will cherish this quilt’s aurora painted sky and extraordinary polar landscape.
PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping when you order the fabrics for this exquisite quilt pattern (orders $100 and over, no coupon needed).
Order the pattern as configured, or customize it to your liking with any of our thousands of fabrics. Just place your desired fabrics in your Wish List, and these fabrics will appear in the Fabric Selector below the pattern.
Tonight I am writing to you from the International Quilt Festival in Houston Texas.
Attendance seems to be up, and there have been many joyful reunions and celebrations. A lot of the people we have not seen for many years, seem to have come back this year. This includes many of my quilter friends from overseas.
It has certainly been an international group of quilts on display, and in particular I am noticing so many quilts from Taiwan and even from China. Because I am going to show my work and speak in Taipei next month, it is exciting to see how our beloved art and craft of quilting and fiber art continues to spread around the world.
It is also a time when we learn new techniques, gather new ideas, and start to plan for our own quilting plans for when we return home. Everyone I have spoken to has said they are so charged up and can’t wait to go home and start sewing!
So many people have come up to me to thank me for eQuilter being a dependable service, and to tell me they used our fabrics to make their Houston quilts. That is gratifying!
I’ll be flying home Sunday night, and back in the studio Monday, finishing a special quilt for my trip to Taiwan.
Watch for my email on Wednesday where I’ll start a series of essays on the quilts I’ve seen here. I’ll start to post photos next week also. Stay tuned!
Travel/Lecture Dates: Nov 2-6 – Art Quilt Tahoe – Independent Study Nov 7-10 – Sacred Threads – Indianapolis – Art & Activism lecture Nov 21-23 – Taiwan Quilt Festival – Taipei – Feature Artist & Speaker Dec 10 – Canadian Quilt Association – Zoom Lecture – Intl Quilt Trends Feb 2 – SAQA Europe/Middle East – Zoom Lecture Feb 18-21 – QuiltCon – Raleigh NC
Tonight’s Free eQuilter Pattern celebrates both Dragons & Antique Books. This Bibliophile Dragon is perched on a stack of books, and studies in the pursuit of ancient knowledge.
To make this 68″ x 55″ quilt design, you will start with the 29″ x 44″ fabulous panel. Use other exclusive prints from this collection (Dragon Stripes & Antique Tossed Books) to construct the border, plus Solid Black to set a dramatic mood. Finish with a Blue Dragon Scale binding.
Don’t miss your chance to make your own Legendary Dragon Quilt!
PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping when you order the fabrics for this exquisite quilt pattern (orders $100 and over, no coupon needed).
Order the pattern as configured, or customize it to your liking with any of our thousands of fabrics. Just place your desired fabrics in your Wish List, and these fabrics will appear in the Fabric Selector below the pattern.
Early Wednesday I am heading to the airport, and I am just hoping that I can get to Houston. Denver Airport is experiencing delays due to a lack of air traffic controllers. Gulp. Hopefully I can get home Sunday as well.
I’ll be at the gallery talks for Soul Stories on Friday and Saturday at 2 pm so if you are coming please come to these artist talks and say hello afterwards! I am also attending the SAQA member event on Friday 5-7 pm and hope to see many of you there.
eQuilter is also the sponsor for the $5K Master Award which went to Caryl Bryer Fallert Gentry this year. Be sure to see all the big winners, including Best of Show by Ricky Tims.
On Saturday, for World Animal Day, I attended an event at the Denver Botanic Gardens, for an organization that works to pass laws to protect animals (wild and domestic) from cruelty, abuse and neglect. Before the event started, I took a stroll through the gardens at dusk. At the end of summer the last flowers of the season are blooming, and gracefully fading, and there is a particular rich fragrance emanating from the plants, water, and earth. I had a very peaceful moment to sit on a bench as the sky filled with colors, the birds became silent, and the scent of the roses came to me. I spent those moments thinking of Jane Goodall, and how I can take a piece of her legacy forward into the next few years. I admire her commitment to her mission so much….she was traveling and speaking right up to her final days…at 91 years old.
So I share a couple photos from the garden, along with the Cicely Mary Barker licensed Flower Fairies which just came back into stock. When I was a girl I visited my Great Aunt who was a painter, and we would sit in her garden and paint flowers with watercolors, and look for fairies. She gave me a little book of Cicely’s Flower Fairies, and I’ve been a fan ever since.
Sharing our passion for fabric…and cats! Luana & Paul
Travel/Lecture Dates: Oct 9-12 – Houston Quilt Festival – Soul Stories Nov 2-6 – Art Quilt Tahoe – Independent Study Nov 7-10 – Sacred Threads – Indianapolis – Art & Activism lecture Nov 21-23 – Taiwan Quilt Festival – Taipei – Feature Artist & Speaker Dec 10 – Canadian Quilt Association – Zoom Lecture – Intl Quilt Trends Feb 2 – SAQA Europe/Middle East – Zoom Lecture Feb 18-21 – QuiltCon – Raleigh NC
